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Today we just saw an article about Andorid APP Player. Now we would like to share with you.

This is recorded from BlackBerry DevCon 2011. The following are some of the biggest lingering questions on the topic of Android Apps on BlackBerry for those who don’t have time to listen to the audio. Keep reading for more!

Android Apps on BlackBerry Q & A / FAQ / or whatever you wanna call it

Questions asked and answered in Kevin’s words based on press conference audio above…

Q: What versions of Android will BBX Support?A: Research In Motion plans to support any open-sourced versions of Android. Currently version 2.3 is the newest version of Android that Google has released open source code for, so that’s what the PlayBook OS / BBX currently support. When Google releases open source code for Ice Cream Sandwich, BBX will support that.

Q: Why can’t users just install APK files onto BlackBerry?A: RIM has their own security protocols, etc. on the QNX platform so they require apps to be in the .bar format.

Q: What kind of apps are best suited to the Android app player?A: RIM has found that ~70% of Android apps port over with little or no issue. Apps that suit the Android App Player best are apps that are self-contained (think games) or apps that pull in data from the web (apps for websites, etc.). We’ve been finding the compatibility % to be more along the lines of 50%.

Q: How important are Android apps to BlackBerry on the BBX platform? What % of apps in App World will be re-packaged Android Apps? A: RIM wouldn’t give a definite percentage here, but do think re-packaged apps will make up a significant contribution to the App World catalog. RIM also made it clear that Android apps on BlackBerry are more of a bonus to the ecosystem. RIM made it clear that the two main pillars of the BBX platform as presented during the DevCon keynote are HTML 5 (WebWorks SDK) and C++ (Native SDK). That being said, RIM wants to make it as easy as possible for apps to make it onto the platform, which is what the AIR SDK allows for as does the Android runtime. The most integrated apps (super apps) and high performing apps (games) will ideally be built on one of the primary platforms, but for developers looking to expose their apps to more ecosystems and get their foot in the door of BlackBerry, supporting android apps and flash apps makes good sense.

Q: What Android APIs are not supported?A: A whole bunch of Android hardware and software features are not supported through the APIs. RIM is working on reducing this list to make more of the APIs available, but also stated they will choose to not support certain ones for "business reasons." They wouldn’t get into details here, so time will tell.

Q: Do I need the source code for an Android app to port it over to BlackBerry?A: No, you just need the .apk file.

Q: So does that mean App World will run rampant with Android apps that were not intended to be in there?A: No. The submission process is still the same here. You need to sign up as a developer with App World. If you submit apps, you need to have the rights to those apps for them to get published.

Q: Will RIM do anything to stop individual PlayBook owners from sideloading Android apps onto their PlayBook that they don’t have the rights to? A: Crickets chirping. See our BlackBerry PlayBook Apps forum for lots of already-ported Android apps.

Q: To the consumer who owns a BBX device, will they know they are downloading Android apps from App World?A: Not until they open the installed app (and even then they may not notice). Technically once ported to a .bar file and submitted to App World, these are BlackBerry apps and the developer is now a BlackBerry developer. Consumers browsing App World will not know if they are downloading an app that was ported over from Android. This is the same notion in that consumers don’t know if they’re downloading apps today that were built Native or in Flash. Once installed on the PlayBook, the application shortcut style/treatment is exactly the same as any other app. However, once they open an app that was ported from Android, they will realize they are in an app that was originally developed for Android. Under the current implementation on the PlayBook OS 2.0, the app opens in the Android App Player. Also, app design intended for Android kind of stick out (settings screens designed to match Android UI, etc.).

Q: Will RIM push the fact that they are supporting Android Apps on BlackBerry?A: The answer isn’t 100% clear here from RIM, but impression is that the Android Apps on BlackBerry message is currently targeted towards Android developers, tech media, Wall Street and current PlayBook owners as an answer to the question of how is RIM going to get more apps on the platform. RIM’s take is that an app on the platform is an app – consumers don’t care what SDK it was built on. So it’s very likely you won’t see much consumer-facing marketing on Android app support when BBX phones PlayBook OS 2.0 arrive. Right now it’s a message that has to be out there to get Android developers taking advantage of it, and to keep everybody in the loop, but once the apps are there and devices are on sale, it’ll probably be a pretty quiet marketing message on Android app support. Note – one of the reasons I think they won’t want to make the message strong to consumers is that’ll create confusion that all apps in the Android marketplace will be available on BBX devices – which will not be the case.

Q: Will the Android App Player experience look the same on the consumer release of PlayBook OS 2.0/BBX phones as it does right now on the developer beta of OS 2.0?A: Not sure, but hopefully it will be changed from the current implementation. Right now the Android App Player opens as one app on the PlayBook. If you open additional Android apps, they load within the App Player (and you can toggle between them within the App Player) instead of opening multiple app instances as do other apps on the PlayBook OS. Personally I think this is a big issue as it breaks the user interface consistency on the PlayBook – so I think it’s smart that they not release it as it is to consumers. They need Android apps to feel as native PlayBook as possible, which to me means running multiple app instances of Android apps at the same time, and being able to toggle between them with the standard gestures. It appeared to me that RIM is aware of this and working towards that goal. Other features are being implemented to help with this native feeling – for example, if Android apps require the keyboard, they popup the PlayBook’s keyboard, not the Android keyboard. We’re told a lot of "magic" is happening at the QNX level to interface Android into QNX for hardware and software calls.

Q: Has RIM been talking to Google about this Android App Player implementation on BlackBerry?A: …….. No real answer, but definitely don’t have the impression that this initiative has Google’s permission or blessing, not that RIM needs it with open sourced versions of Android.

Q: Has RIM thought about ingesting Android apps from third party Android app marketplaces? So instead of bringing over apps from single developers, do a deal with a third party app store (that already has the relationships with lots of individual developers) to port over as much of their catalogs of apps as possible?A: Definitely something that RIM has considered. Wouldn’t confirm if they’re doing it or not. This approach could immediately bring over a ton of apps to the platform, but could be a nightmare (developers waking up getting support emails for their apps in App World, even though they didn’t put them there as it was one of their distributors that did).

Q: How have Android developers been responding to this initiative? How do you convert them from just porting over Android apps to developing for BlackBerry?A: (From Larry talking about when he’s doing presentations on this in the valley). At first the Android devs are sitting there with their arms folded, not looking that interested. By the time he shows them the tools and how easy it is, they’re much more receptive and eager to test out all their apps. He’s been finding a lot of Android developers know very little about the BlackBerry platform, so this is a great way to expose them to it and to making money and downloads from BlackBerry users (Android market isn’t that great for making $$ for devs). As Android devs start to make money on App World, there should be a natural conversion for them to want to improve their apps (go native). And RIM will actively be working with developers to gear devs up to make the best apps possible.

Q: If a developer decides to re-make their Android app with another BlackBerry SDK, will they keep all their ratings, etc. in App World?A: Yes, assuming the developer wants to. The app id, title, comments, ratings, etc. will carry through – the developer is just replacing the .bar file with an updated .bar file. App World doesn’t know it’s been replaced via a differently developed app.

Conclusion

There’s still some work to be done with the implementation of the Android App Player on BBX, but for apps that do port over successfully the user experience should be pretty solid. For consumers, it means more apps in App World (and a fun time sideloading all the ones that are not in App World but you can find the .apk for). The existence of the Android App Player also makes for a great introduction for Android developers to get a taste of BlackBerry and even start making some money off the platform. It’s widely known that most Android developers don’t make a lot of money off of Android Marketplace. If/when they see some money rolling in from BlackBerry users it could get a lot of them more seriously looking at BlackBerry and the BBX platform. And for developers now contemplating whether to built or to port, they should definitely check out this article on it looking at the App Player from a developer perspective.

If you have been paying attention to RIM’s financial issues you probably know that BlackBerry 7 devices aren’t doing as hot as RIM wanted them to do. I always did say that BlackBerry 7 device would be RIM’s hold over device until they released the new QNX device, now known as the BBX devices.

2011 didn’t have it’s shortage of BlackBerry devices. We saw the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930/9790, Torch 9850/9860/9810, Curve 9380/9370/9360, and we also saw the launch of the P’9981 which was the Porsche design BlackBerry device. All of these devices were rocking so very nice hardware that was first seen in BlackBerry devices such as better processors, more memory and better cameras. The 2012 BlackBerry devices will have even more!

2012 BBX BlackBerry Devices

The first BlackBerry device the will be supporting the new BBX will be the BlackBerry London device the we saw pictures of a few weeks ago. This device will be an all touchscreen device which some have questioned because when they think of BlackBerry devices they think of keyboard devices. However RIM needs to do something that is different and game changing. RIM’s target release for the BlackBerry London is March 2012 but if you have been following RIM for awhile like I have then you know that RIM isn’t very good at keeping release dates. We should see this device at CES which is in January.

There are a lot more devices that we should see in 2012. One of those devices is being codenamed BlackBerry Milan which is code number is R071. This makes us believe that this could be the CDMA version of BlackBerry London. It could also be a AT&T/Rogers exclusive device.

The BlackBerry Lisbon device is something we really don’t know a lot of but we are thinking that it might be a Slider type device.

Now the BlackBerry Nevada will be the BlackBerry device that BlackBerry users have been dreaming about. This is rumored to be a BlackBerry Qwerty device running QNX that will be very similar to the Bold 9900/9930.

Now the BlackBerry Forest is something we have been hearing about for some time. I apparently is a 10″ BlackBerry PlayBook. When the BlackBerry PlayBook originally released we heard that RIM would be working on a 10″ PlayBook but then we were told it was scrapped due to design issues. Now looks like RIM is thinking about trying to give it a go again. RIM has said that they are committed to Tablets and are going to continue to support them. I for one still believe in the BlackBerry PlayBook even though it hasn’t received certain features. I still think it is one of the best tablets on the market and will only get better!

One thing we didn’t learn about is BlackBerry 7.1. RIM has said that they are not going to just kill off the current BlackBerry OS. They will continue to support it for sometime even after the launch of BBX devices. We know that OS 7.1 is in the works and has some nice features such as mobile hotspot but we don’t know when we will see it officially hit the market.

2012 looks to be a very promising year for RIM and BlackBerry. I for one am very excited to see BBX in action. I do believe that it will bring RIM and BlackBerry up to another level in the Smartphone world! What device are you most exicted to see?

It is said that PlayBook and OS 7 devices are anxiously looking forward to BBX devices, Bridge enhancements, and the 4G PlayBook. The details that have been revealed so far give us reason to keep our faith.

Here’s Ronen’s highlights:

4G PlayBooks will launch around the same time (early 2012) as the Playbook 2.0 OS which is scheduled for February 2012. It has been in testing for several months on multiple carriers.

PlayBook OS 2.0 will be bringing speed improvements to Bridge without many UI changes. Mostly improvement and functionality. There will be “some updates down the road”

RIM has teams working on extending PlayBook video chat into an endpoint for corporate video chat so it is beyond just device to device. (I want to know more!)

PlayBook messages and PIM will sync almost as fast as smartphones.

The push infrastructure is the same as the current smartphone push but the moderator did not think PIN to PIN messaging was in OS 2.0 yet

OS 2.0 will have spell-check with type ahead and word prediction

S/MIME encryption will not be available at OS 2.0 launch but will be available shortly after

Currently the PlayBook native email does not color code BES vs Personal email

RIM Plans on making more apps be able to connect to the internet over bridge

RIM is looking into other PlayBook sizes

The 4G PlayBook will not have voice capabilities beside video chat at first. The initial release will be data and video chat. There will also be third party apps that can make regular calls but nothing from RIM.

Corporate and personal contacts are in one general list but the device knows which is which. Any new contact will be corporate by default.

It’s common for media to lambaste RIM and its smartphones and tablet. The company does deserve some of the criticism it receives, but what’s strange is that it doesn’t receive any credit where it’s due. Here are 5 areas where we believe RIM should get more recognition.

1. NFC - With the latest BlackBerry 7 devices, RIM has made a firm commitment to NFC. There are several devices in RIM’s current portfolio that have support for NFC and the company has been put on record saying there will be many more. In order for all of us to take advantage of mobile payments, merchants need to know that there are enough users out there to warrant the cost and effort of implementing. If smartphone manufacturers don’t invest and bet on this technology, it will never happen. NFC is a chicken and the egg type of problem and RIM is the chicken. I’m not sure if that makes sense but you get what I’m saying.

2. Enterprise - There is a major change in the way enterprise views mobile. It’s called employee liable versus corporate liable devices and there is a growing number of the former entering the workplace. RIM sees this shift and has created a unique BES feature called BlackBerry balance that extends to both the smartphone and tablet. Because of RIM, employees can download apps and be a part of the mobile scene, without compromising the company’s data.

3. Efficiency - You can write an email to someone faster from a BlackBerry than other smartphones. With keyboard shortcuts, universal search and the best keyboard on the planet, a BlackBerry is hands-down the most efficient smartphone. There’s a lot RIM needs to be doing but with regards to making our lives more productive RIM needs not change anything.

4. Openness - RIM has made some great commitments to open source projects and even has a github page over at GitHub.com/blackberry. There are several ways to make apps for BlackBerry these days including HTHML5, Adobe Flash, Java and C.

5. First Party Apps – BlackBerry Traffic, Twitter, Protect and Maps are all great applications. RIM is unique in its ability to own the hardware and churn out a suite of apps that set the bar high for not just other developers, but for the industry.

For a while now we’ve been hearing of some BlackBerry 7 smartphones just dying. Most of the time the dead devices are after the device has been charging all night. Well a RIM spokesperson has confirm the power issue with this statement:

A RIM spokeswoman confirmed that a “limited number of customers have reported an issue where their devices will not power on.” She said the company is “actively working on a software update to resolve this issue.”

The dead device issue seems to happen around most of the newer BlackBerry 7 smartphones, including the Bold 9900, 9930, and Torch 9850, 9860, etc. More details to come if we hear from RIM about it…

Well today RIM announced the BlackBerry Curve 9380 and we have got our hands on the specs! The BlackBerry Curve 9380 will be rocking a 806Mhz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 512MB GB of on board memory, NFC, and much more. Check out the full specs down below!

Early this morning we know that a press release came out from RIM introducing two new BlackBerry 7 smartphones, the Bold 9790 and Curve 9380. The new Bold 9790 brings the familiar design of the popular Bold 9700 and 9780 smartphones, and updates it with a high-resolution touchscreen, 1GHz processor, and 8GB on on-board memory. While the new Curve 9380 is the first all touch BlackBerry in the Curve family, and brings a high-resolution 3.2″ touchscreen and 5.0MP camera. Both devices are also pre-loaded with BlackBerry 7 OS. The Bold 9790 and Curve 9380 smartphones are expected to be available all over the world from various companies within the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more details on that…

The new smartphones offer impressively slim and stylish designs with enhanced communications, multimedia, productivity and social connectivity features. The BlackBerry Bold 9790 is both powerful and compact, offering users a fully loaded, high performance smartphone with the dual benefits of a high resolution touch display and a highly tactile keyboard. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first-ever BlackBerry® Curve™ smartphone with a touch display. It continues to deliver the powerful social experiences, ease-of-use and smaller handset size that distinguish the BlackBerry Curve family, while also offering Curve users the choice of a larger display and an all-touch design.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Smartphone with Touch Display and KeyboardTrue to the BlackBerry Bold brand, the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 smartphone is powerful, full-featured and built with premium materials and finishes. It combines a high-resolution and highly responsive touch display with a highly tactile keyboard and a precise optical trackpad, but comes in a narrow design that is easy to carry and exceptionally comfortable to hold. With the BlackBerry 7 OS and powerful 1 GHz processor, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 delivers fast, smooth performance for browsing the web, running apps, working with documents, and enjoying multimedia. It includes 8GB of onboard memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage.

All-Touch BlackBerry Curve 9380 SmartphoneThe finely crafted BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first all-touch smartphone in the BlackBerry Curve family. It features a highly responsive and brilliant 3.2” high resolution display and comes with preinstalled social networking apps, including BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), Facebook®, Twitter™ and Social Feeds apps, that offer a fun, easy and smoothly integrated mobile experience. This compact and stylish handset also features a 5MP camera with flash and video recording, allowing users to easily capture and share their favorite moments with family, friends and colleagues.

Powerful BlackBerry 7 OSThe BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 are both powered by the new BlackBerry 7 OS, which delivers a faster and richer user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches, and support for Augmented Reality and NFC (Near Field Communications). It also includes the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, and comes with a variety of personal and productivity apps out of the box.

BlackBerry 7 also introduces an enhanced browser that provides a significantly faster, more fluid web browsing experience. The browser includes a new JIT (just in time) JavaScript compiler to improve the load time speed of web pages and it offers optimized HTML5 performance for incredible gaming and video experiences. The popular universal search capability has also been enhanced with support for voice-activated search, so users can simply speak to begin searching their device and the web for information.

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphones include built-in support for Augmented Reality and NFC, allowing users to connect with the world around them in fresh new ways. With the Wikitude Augmented Reality application, users can find nearby BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) contacts in real-time, read reviews on restaurants close to them, or get the story behind an interesting landmark and points of interest. NFC also enables many new and exciting capabilities, including the ability to make mobile payments, pair accessories or read SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone.

The BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphones include built-in support for Augmented Reality and NFC, allowing users to connect with the world around them in fresh new ways. With the Wikitude Augmented Reality application, users can find nearby BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) contacts in real-time, read reviews on restaurants close to them, or get the story behind an interesting landmark and points of interest. NFC also enables many new and exciting capabilities, including the ability to make mobile payments, pair accessories or read SmartPoster tags with a simple tap of the smartphone.

BlackBerry 7 includes a number of preinstalled applications and integrated functionality for increasing productivity and easy sharing and collaboration right out of the box. The Premium version of Documents To Go is included free of charge, offering users powerful document editing features as well as a native PDF document viewer. BlackBerry® Protect is pre-loaded*, offering customers the peace of mind that personal data can be backed up and secured in the cloud. BlackBerry® Balance is integrated in BlackBerry 7, allowing users to enjoy the full BlackBerry smartphone experience for both work and personal purposes without compromising the IT department’s need for advanced security and IT controls. The Social Feeds (2.0) app has been extended to capture updates from media and favorites all in one consolidated view. The Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones (2.0) app introduces features like Facebook chat and BBM integration that makes it easier for users to connect with their Facebook friends in real time.

AvailabilityIt is said that the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 smartphones will begin to be available from various carriers around the world over the coming weeks. Availability dates for specific devices from specific carriers will be announced in conjunction with RIM’s partners.

We are very excited about BBX. Everything RIM has said about the platform makes a lot of sense and the rumors we’re hearing about the first QNX device sound exciting. The only downside is that all the rumors point to a full touchscreen device, and we’ve never been happy with a full touchscreen BlackBerry. We need our keyboard. Regardless, a recent interview with Alec Saunders confirms some cool upcoming features of BBX, and we’re even more excited about the first devices to launch.

Here are the features we are most excited about:

1. Improving the developer tools, documentation and process for getting started.
2. RIM is working on “Super App” APIs to allow deep integration with PlayBook and BBX platform.
3. Carriers will only need to certify the radio stack. All OS updates will be pushed on the fly.
4. App World is getting coupons, better screenshots resolutions and more after the 3.0 release.
5. RIM is going to make sure HTML5 and Web developers get access to all the APIs necessary for a great native super app.

One thing Alec mentioned is that RIM will be shutting down outside app downloads going forward. It’s likely that you will be able to find some form of workaround to get unapproved apps on your device, but it’s not going to be easy. Companies like Mobihand can forget about being involved in the BBX platform.

Lately we have been hearing many rumors about BBX platform and what it will be bringing to the table. At first we thought that it would not support BIS/BES. Which, I couldn’t think of a BlackBerry device that doesn’t support BES/BIS!

In an interview with PCMag RIM’s vice president of Developer Relations and Ecosystem Development Alec Saunders stated that the new BBX BlackBerry device will in fact have BES support. He also said that the first BBX device, codenamed the Colt, will have the same Screen Resolution as the BlackBerry PlayBook which is 16:9 aspect ratio with a 1024×600-pixel resolution. The first device will be a full touchscreen device.

Saunders also stated that RIM is going to focus a lot on gaming on the next BlackBerry Platform!! Click the link below to read Alec Saunders full interview! I can’t wait for BBX!

Recently as more carriers are rolling out updates allowing users to take advantage of NFC on their BlackBerry 7 devices, users want to know what exactly NFC is, what it does and how it can be used.

NFC stands for near field communication and is used to easily transfer data from one device to another. It is currently available on the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, Curve 9350/9360/9370, and Bold 9790. It can be used to transfer information such as contacts and files, or media such as pictures, videos and songs. Data transfer can also be used between more than just two phones. There is also the option to have your credit card information stored on your phone for quick payments at select retailers. If a poster is equipped with an NFC tag, your phone can scan the tag. Depending on what information the tag sends out, your phone will either download an app or give you more information on what is on the poster. This is similar to using a tag reader app to take a picture of a QR (quick response) code. QR pictures are difficult to take, because you have to be in the right lighting, the picture can’t be off-center and the code can’t be blurry. Because of this, NFC tag scanning is much more reliable. As soon as your phone passes over the tag you’re trying to scan, a dialog box will pop up to ensure it was scanned. As NFC becomes more common within phone providers, it can also be used as a hotel or ID key card.

Using NFCLauncher combined with ShortcutMe, you can create macros that you can write onto NFC enabled tags. ShortcutMe is an app designed to do multiple things on your phone using one press of a button. NFCLauncher lets you write these shortcuts to NFC tags that you can use anywhere. A few ideas of ways to use these tags are to put one in your car and have it set your sound profile to loud, turn on bluetooth and turn on Drive Safe.ly. You can also put one on your office desk to turn your phone on silent, turn bluetooth off, and turn on WiFi. For more ideas on what to do with tags, click here. For help creating macros and to find out more about these applications, go here.

MasterCard recently approved using NFC with their program called PayPass. This will allow MasterCard credit card holders with an NFC enabled phone to pay for their purchases using their phone. Using PayPass, users will also be able to find out movie times and get rebates. For now, they are testing this application with select banks, meaning you’ll have to wait to actually download the app. By clicking this link, you can find merchants in your area that will accept PayPass. For an application in the beginning stages, there are already lots of stores that are participating.

Many people expect NFC to become a widely used application as more cell phones come equipped with it. We want to know how you’re using NFC on your BlackBerry! Do you have tags designated for different shortcuts that you use throughout your day? Or do you only use it when there is an NFC enabled poster? Please kindly express your idea in the below comments.